Coming off a gutsy win over then-No. 24 Stanford on Nov. 17, Indiana women’s basketball arrived at Battle 4 Atlantis tournament in The Bahamas with plenty of momentum.
The Hoosiers topped Columbia 72-62 on Saturday behind stellar play from sophomore Lilly Meister and junior Yarden Garzon and a day later took down No. 18 Baylor 73-65 to advance to Monday’s championship game against North Carolina.
Yet, the momentum that the Hoosiers built over the weekend was extinguished by the Tar Heels. Indiana was completely stifled in the second half and fell 69-39, its largest margin of defeat since Nov. 12, 2023, against Stanford.
The Tar Heels unleashed an onslaught of 3-pointers, shooting 11-for-23 from distance compared to a meager 4-for-26 mark for the Hoosiers. Garzon was the only Indiana player to eclipse 8 points and the Hoosiers shot a combined 29 percent from the field.
“This wasn’t our finest 40 minutes,” head coach Teri Moren said Monday via Zoom. “We didn’t have the urgency level we needed, and that was disappointing.”
After a solid resume building win against Baylor, Indiana’s performance on Monday left much to be desired and exemplified the recurring growing pains of this year’s revamped team.
Here are a few notes and takeaways from the Hoosiers’ Battle 4 Atlantis performances:
Two steps forward, one step back
After reeling off its third straight win Sunday against Baylor, Indiana was physical and comfortable with North Carolina’s tempo through the first half. The Tar Heels gained a 32-26 advantage through the first 20 minutes, but the Hoosiers were completely shut down thereafter.
Indiana scored just 13 second-half points and looked dysfunctional on offense and vulnerable on defense. North Carolina’s 3-point explosion largely came on open looks, often stemming from breakdowns within the Hoosiers’ rotations.
Juniors Indya Nivar and Trayanna Crisp both tallied 15 points for the Tar Heels and Crisp splashed four triples in the first half alone. Indiana hasn’t been able to piece together consistent performances all season and Monday’s loss shined a light on that variability.
Moren talked at length in the offseason about how different the team would look post-Mackenzie Holmes, but now close to a month into the season, it’s difficult to decipher the Hoosiers’ identity.
“That…